Protecting Root Vegetables from Insects
What can be done to keep bugs and worms from attacking root vegetables?
Try covering the planting with a floating row cover such as ReeMay or Harvest Guard. These light weight covers allow air, light and water to reach the plants below but keep many of the troublesome insects off the plants. Some of these insect reach the plants from above ground. The adults fly to their favorite vegetables and lay eggs. The eggs hatch into a maggot that eats into and through the root crops. This may be all you need to do to control the damage. If the culprit is one of the insects, like grubs or wireworms, that reach the root crops through the soil you will need to do additional work. Keep the garden weed free and try moving vegetables to different parts of the garden each season. If this doesn’t work you may choose to use an insecticide labeled for controlling these insects in a food garden. Consider this a last resort since these chemicals will also kill the good insects that help us in our garden.
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